I am a nineteen-year-old girl with congenital heart disease. When I was born my parents had no idea I had heart defects. It was not until the next day when the doctors and nurses swept me away to have my first heart catheterization procedure that they found out that I had congenital heart defects – pulmonary atresia with VSD and a mitral valve defect known as parachute mitral valve. So far, I have had four heart surgeries, several cardiac MRI’s, countless echocardiograms, and too many heart catheterizations procedures to count. When I was in Kindergarten, as well as my senior year, I spent six weeks in the hospital with a condition known as endocarditis. I was also hospitalized several times due to nutrition complications and respiratory complications that are quite common in children that have congenital heart disease. Through the years, I have become very familiar with the people and the places at Texas Children’s Hospital, as well as being accepted on to the children’s advisory board.
Although I spent so much time at the hospital, you would never have known that I had a heart condition. By the time I was three years old though, it started to become more apparent that something was not right. My skin was starting to change colors and I was becoming very tired, very quickly. I had a really hard time doing any physical exercise at all. I was starting to have the expected side effects of my previous heart surgeries and because of this, the doctors told my parents that it was finally time for the big surgery. They called it the final repair. During the 14-hour procedure, they closed the holes in my heart, gave me a new pulmonary valve, and did a minor repair on my mitral valve. After that, I was closely monitored by the doctors. The years went by and I lived as normal of a life that I could despite the medications and the scars on my chest and back that I lovingly refer to as my “beauty marks.” I tried to fit in with others by trying out many different types of physical sports. I found out that soccer, tennis and softball were not sports I was going to excel in. When I was 11, I joined our local 4-H group. I started out in 4-H doing archery but after a year I switched to shotgun sports such as trap, skeet and sporting clays.
When I was 13, I had another heart catheterization procedure done. My doctor told my parents and I that it was time for my fourth surgery. It had been ten years since my last surgery and I did not know what to expect. Dr. Fraser replaced my pulmonary valve and I also had another mitral valve procedure, too. I had the surgery and made a remarkable recovery.
After this surgery, when I was at the hospital for a check-up, something wonderful caught my eye, it was an advertisement for Camp Beaver Creek. It talked about hunting and fishing and I knew that I wanted to go to this camp! I had been shooting for a couple of years and knew that I had wanted to go hunting but never had the opportunity. I was so excited at the possibility of getting to go hunting for the first time that I was beside myself. After looking at the website the first thought I had was how exciting it would be to harvest a zebra. At this point though, I just wanted to see how I would do at hunting. Since I had just had surgery I was unable to attend the first camp, but I was told I would be able to attend the second camp
When I arrived, I was welcomed to a beautiful room and some camo Game Guard gear that I still wear! During the Hunt with Heart weekend at Camp Beaver Creek I had such a blast! I was able to harvest a Merino sheep! I had the time of my life! I think I had more fun than the boys! I have been able to show off my set of horns on many different occasions thanks to Taxidermy by John Guidry. I am so thankful for the opportunities that have been made available to me because of HWH. Opportunities that would not have been possible otherwise! As a result, I have volunteered with Hunt with Heart on every occasion that was made available to me. Not only was I able to attend Camp Beaver Creek, but I was also able to go to Canada with my Uncle. Please know that my life has been blessed because of everyone that took part in making my dream come true! Without Hunt with Heart I would have never been able to go hunting, much less go to Canada to hunt.
“I was born on March 7th, 1996, in Albany, New York. A few day later I would undergo my first surgery for my heart as my parents sat worried in the waiting room. The first few years of my life were stressful for my parents until I had my last open heart surgery, the second fontan surgery, at 3 years old. Later on that year my family would end up in Kyle, Texas. I spent the next 15 years living in the same neighborhood until I moved out to attend Texas A&M. In those 15 years I learned to deal with my condition and the complications that come with CHD. I was never able to play tackle football, but I played 2 seasons of flag football. I was told that I had to stop participating in my jui jitsu classes, so I focused on the muy thai portions of my lessons. I played baseball, basketball, and tennis as I made my way through life. When I was a sophomore in high school I was invited out to Camp Beaver Creek for the first camp that Hunt With Heart would put on. That camp was the first real experience that I had with other kids who faced conditions similar to mine. Understanding that I wasn’t alone in my experiences helped me to have a brighter outlook on life.” -Tyler Gray 
Micheal was born was Transposition of the Greater Arteries (TGA) in 1995. In 2006, he had a bypass surgery and he currently is doing great!
“Cheyann’s heart journey began when I was 5 months pregnant with her. I went to my first ultrasound appointment. My husband was working and could not get off that day, so I went by myself, and had them record it for me. While I was watching the screen, the ultrasound technician did not say much, everything seemed normal. Since this was my 2nd pregnancy, I had been thru the routine before. She told me I was having a Baby Girl! Then after she was done, she said she would just have Dr. Hager, my OBGYN, come in here to see me since it was so late in the day, they were wrapping up seeing all their patients…….Immediately I knew something was wrong! That is not how it went with my first pregnancy…..the doctor did not see me in the ultrasound room. So many things were going thru my head all at once.
Born the fourth child into the Leal family, Remington arrived at 6:09 the morning of July 16, 2002 in McAllen, TX. After an uneventful pregnancy, following three siblings into the world, nothing could have prepared his parents for what was to follow. He struggled immediately upon birth. His little chest looked like it couldn’t contain his enlarged heart which heaved up and down with each breath. They whisked him off to the NICU where his parents didn’t even hold him until he was a week old. Our pastor was called in for prayer at this time. That was only allowed because they were air lifting him to Corpus Christi for further testing. Dr. Grenier, who was familiar with Dr. Towbin, was the pediatric cardiologist in McAllen. She came to the family and said she suspected it was a genetic condition, that all of the children should be taken to TXCH in Houston and have all of them tested. Wow! We were certainly not prepared to open that can of worms!
My name is Nicholas Pelham and I was born here in Texas on March 07, 2001. When I was three years old my family and I moved to Hiawassee, Georgia but a year later we returned to Cypress, Texas. While in sixth grade, during a sports physical, a benign heart arrhythmia (heart murmur) was discovered. I was followed by a cardiologist annually with no restrictions; I was just another teen boy who enjoyed playing soccer and basketball with my friends. Three years later (2015), during my ninth grade year, I began dealing with chronic nausea and fatigue. This lasted for almost two months with no clear explanation from the doctors. In early November, my pediatrician suggested that my parents take me to the ER due to suspected dehydration. As directed, my mom took me and while there my heart stopped beating; I went into cardiac arrest. I spent the next 31 days in the Texas Children’s Hospital Cardiac ICU as the professionals tried to figure out what caused my severe heart and multiple organ failure. There were some very dark moments during that month where it wasn’t clear whether or not I would survive. Halfway through my stay, I was told I would require a heart transplant. My parents and the staff were going through the process of getting me on the list and I was scheduled to have open heart surgery to have an LVAD device attached to my heart. During the preparation stage, my body and heart began to show signs of improvement. Through what is rather miraculous on God’s part and the incredible efforts of the medical staff, I left the hospital 2 weeks later without ever having the LVAD surgery or a heart transplant. Six months later, I had an ablation to help remap the electrical firings of my heart and over the next two years I was weaned off all my cardiac medications. As of now, my heart is literally in better shape than it ever was before. Simply stated, I suffered arrhythmia induced cardiomyopathy. Although not 100% certain, the doctors believe I may have had an infection in my heart that didn’t “play well” with my arrhythmia which lead to my heart failure.
At 20 weeks gestation Shepherd was diagnosed with Heterotaxy Syndrome. This condition is so rare there is not a birth rate associated with it. He was born via scheduled Caesarean section so that a team of cardiologists and surgeons were present and able to provide immediate medical intervention. His first open heart surgery was at seventy two hours of age to place a BT Shunt. A week later he had an abdominal surgery, followed again by a throat surgery two years later. His second open heart surgery was the bidirectional Glenn procedure when he was two and a half. The third procedure, a Fontan, was attempted when he was three years old, but they were unable to do it without creating more harm than benefit. This left him “blue” and as the years progressed unable to walk more than 15 feet or so before needing to stop and rest. With each surgery he experienced life threatening complications, but none as significant as his most recent surgery in June of 2016. His quality of life was so greatly diminished that his cardiology team decided that an attempt to complete the Fontan procedure was worth the risk. While the ten hour surgery itself went quite well, forty eight hours post-op he went into severe heart failure, and coded. What followed was nearly the entire summer spent in the hospital and nearly two years of recovery.
On May 29, 2005, we welcomed our son, Braden James, into the world. We thought we had welcomed a perfectly healthy baby boy into our family but about 24 hours after his birth all that changed. At one day old, Braden was diagnosed with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). HLHS is a congenital heart defect where the left side of the heart does not form properly. Our tiny baby boy would require surgery to survive, and not just one surgery but a series of three open heart surgeries.